The daily morning Astorian. [volume] (Astoria, Oregon) 1883-1899, 1887-07-21
CO-OPERATYON-IN ENGLAND.

tive societies In England-the country
in which they have been most sue
cessful-has recently been held.
Thomas Hughes (''Tom Brown'), one
of the Oldest supporters of the move
ment, one might almost say its father,
was in the chair and delivered q long
address on its history and prospects.
What he said was extremely impor-
tant, because cooperation furnishes
the one solution of the labor problem
yst propounded which is worth the
consideration of rational man. 1t is
the only one which any rational man
has been able to describe in detail;
the only one which has been tired
with anything that could be called
success, and the only one which prom
ises to strengthen instead of breaking
down human character.
The story he had TO tell was, IN
brief, that cooperation in distribution
-that is, in the purchase and sale OF
articles of daily consumption-had
been an enormous success, but that
cooperation in production had, where
it had succeeded, ceased in a great
measure to be cooperation in the
early and best sense of the word. The
distribution stores of the cooperative
societies are numerous and do an
enormous and prosperous business,
giving the members the full value OF
every cent they spend. They buy
wholesale, and at the lowest rates,
and they sell at the same plus the
salaries of clerks and rents OF stores,
There are no profits and no commits
sions, and all the co-operators
stand on the same footing, and there
are millions of them.
From these distributive societies
cooperative production, which has
always been delicate plant, has been
lately receiving great stimulus; that
is, considerable number of the dis
tributive societies have begun to ask
themselves why should they not man.
ufacture portion OF the goods they
consume, in order to supply the mar
ket on which their hold is so strong
and steady. The great difficulty the
private manufacturer has to contend
with is the difficulty Of finding Gus
toners. He has to search for them
with untiring energy all over the
world, and exhaust his ingenuity in
trying to keep them. Cooperative
manufacturers, however, would have
no such difficulty. They have the Gus
toners already, and hold them by
bonds which no competition can
weaken or break. Accordingly, two
Of the largest distributing societies,
known as the "Wholesale society,"" of
Manchester and Glasgow, have begun
to manufacture boots and shoes on a
great scale. The English "Wholesale
society" has already two factories, in
which they employ 1000 work people,
and their sales from both reached, in
1886, over 81, 100000. The profits are,
of course, very great, and they sell to
the general public, putting both a
manufacturers and retailers profits
into the price. The result is, of course,
greatly to swell the dividends of the
Wholesale societies, and to encourage
them to extend their manufacturing
operations.
But just here human nature comes
In, and threatens the whole co-opera-
tive movement with disaster. This
development of manufacture is not
carried on along the cooperative
lines. The work people in these great
shoe factories are not co-operators.
They do not share in the profits of
the business. They receive simply
the market rate OF wages. They are
on just as bad terms with their CO.
operative employers as they would be
with individual capitalists. They are
actually out on strike at this mo-
ment, and are working away on the
labor problem" in the same way as
Powderly and his men. If, as Mr..
Hughes asks, things go on in this way,
If the successful cooperative societies
are simply to become corporations
controlling large bodies of hired Ia
borers, how is the world going to be
any better for cooperation?
But this is not all, nor the worst.
This Wholesale society, which is car
rying on this great shoe manufacture,
is a confederation of small societies.
These manufactures are carried on
with the surplus funds OF the CEN
tral committee, and managed by it
The profits are divided among these
societies. No others are let into the
confederation now. But outside the
confederation there is large number
Of small, struggling societies trying to
carry on the same kind of manufac